PIP measure passes on last day

Saturday

Mar 10, 2012 at 12:03 AM

BILL KACZOR

TALLAHASSEE - State lawmakers neared the end of their regular 2012 session after lengthy debate over anti-fraud auto insurance legislation Friday night, but they'll be returning soon, because hours earlier the Florida Supreme Court kicked back their legislative redistricting plan.

They avoided another potential special session, though, by finally agreeing on legislation (HB 119) aimed at thwarting rampant fraud in no-fault auto insurance on the last of their allotted 60 days.

After the vote, Gov. Rick Scott went on the Senate floor to thank lawmakers for passing one of his top priorities.

"This is a bill that delivers on my promise to reduce the cost of living in this state by reducing fraud, stopping the growing cost related to accident fraud and ultimately saving Floridians money that otherwise would have found its way into the pockets of fraudsters, unethical providers and trial lawyers," Scott said in a statement.

The Senate also was set to take up a $70 billion budget after it passed in the House.

The Senate, as well, narrowly defeated a divisive bill (SB 1718) that would have let parents at failing schools "trigger" turnaround plans, including handing them over to private management or charter school companies. It died on a 20-20 tie vote.

The bill was pushed by former Gov. Jeb Bush and California-based Parent Revolution and opposed by the Florida Education Association and other unions as well as some parent groups including the Florida PTA.

Another hot-button bill, though, cleared the Senate and went to Gov. Rick Scott, who is certain to sign it. The measure (HB 1205) would let state agencies randomly drug-test their employees. It would put into law what Scott tried to do through an executive order that's on hold because it's being challenged in federal court. The vote was 26-14.

Scott also has made the auto insurance fraud crisis a top priority. With his prodding, the House and Senate finally resolved their differences on overhauling the mandatory coverage known as Personal Injury Protection, or PIP, as the session's final hours ticked down, but it was a close call in the Senate where the bill passed 22-17. The House roll call was 80-34.

Another goal of the PIP legislation is to reduce rates that have been driven up by fraudulent claims, but the compromise does not include a requirement for such a roll back as many in the Senate wanted.

It would limit plaintiffs' attorney fees and set a 14-day limit on how long injured people could wait before seeking initial care as well as put restrictions on chiropractic care.

Senate opponents argued the final version was a cave-in to the House.

"This is not a home-and-away football game," replied Sen. Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who negotiated the deal. He called it "a principled compromise" and listed several Senate "wins."

The budget was the only other must-pass issue on lawmakers' agenda in the regular session, which began two months early to make sure redistricting could be completed and reviewed by the courts and U.S. Justice Department before the primary election in August.

The spending plan for the budget year, beginning July 1, is a compromise between the two chambers.

With costs continuing to grow faster than revenue in the wake of the Great Recession, it is the latest in a series of budgets that have cut spending for services and projects over the past half-dozen years.

There are additional cuts for health care and state universities and the budget is expected to result in thousands of layoffs. It does include Scott's demand for $1 billion more for public schools, but that still falls far short of making up for prior reductions.

Lawmakers also passed a budget conforming bill (HB 1994) that would turn the University of South Florida's Polytechnic branch in Lakeland into the state's 12th public university.

The Supreme Court upheld the House's redistricting plan but rejected the Senate's map in a landmark, 234-page opinion.

The 5-2 ruling said the Senate violated one of two new anti-gerrymandering amendments to the Florida Constitution in part because it favored incumbents and majority Republicans. While each chamber drew up its own map, both will have to approve the revised version. No special session date was immediately set.

The Legislature's redistricting plan for congressional seats also is being challenged in separate cases pending in state Circuit Court. The second Fair Districts amendment sets similar restrictions on congressional redistricting.

Another high-profile bill that received final day approval would allow the city of Tallahassee to pay $2.4 million to the parents of undercover police informant Rachel Hoffman, who was murdered in a botched drug sting. The bill (HB 7131) went to Scott after a 33-3 vote in the Senate.

While such final bits of business kept lawmakers at their desks into the night on Friday, they disposed of some other major issues much earlier in this year's session.

One of the most heavily lobbied issues, a plan to bring three major casinos resorts to Florida, was dead at about the session's halfway point after stalling in a House committee.

A few days later, the Senate voted 21-19 to defeat legislation that would have turned prison facilities in South Florida over to private companies.

The Legislature last year put a similar provision into the budget, but a Tallahassee judge ruled that tactic was unconstitutional. The judge ruled it should have been done by passing a stand-alone bill. That decision, though, could be appealed.

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